+1 The days of the steals (that is, amazing deals) on eBay is long since gone. It's insanity how people bid up prices early and what they'll ultimately pay for stuff, It's just mind boggling.

But there are still decent deals to be had. I've had a lot of luck finding cycling parts from shops all over that use ebay as a storefront to unload extra inventory and NOS stuff. My LBS usually don't have these parts, nor do the big catalogs. I got about half the parts for my commuter build up last year using these eBay shops and did great, the prices were really good. The parts were all new so I was less concerned with them being stolen goods.

eBay is still a useful tool in the quest for bike parts, but it's not like it was a few years ago. There is always risk in any transaction, buyer beware.